caz963 | DW 6x02 - Day of the Moon

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DW 6x02 - Day of the Moon

Initial - jumbled up - thoughts (before I've read anyone else's.)

We're left with even more questions than we were left with last week - and right now, I confess I'm feeling a bit cheated. Maybe that'll go away once I've calmed down, but I'll be very surprised if we get any major answers before Ep 7, or even the end of the series, which, due to the split season, is almost six months away, given that the team seems to have opted for adventuring.

Not that I'm all that surprised. I'm sure I used to be able to watch TV shows that had regular cliffhangers or overarching plot elements without getting so frustrated. I don't have a short attention span, I'm reasonably intelligent and I like puzzles. So why do I feel so ... deflated about it?

We found out who the Silence are, how long they've been here and what they've been doing... the Doctor told them to bugger off or else in no uncertain terms, so are we to assume that they do, in fact cut and run? Or is there more to come from them?

We still don't know:

Who caused the TARDIS to explode at the end of S5
Who shot and killed the 1100 year-old Doctor
Why he was so resigned to his fate
WTF that photo?
Who the little girl is
Amy - pregnant or not, and why it matters

I've probably missed something, so feel free to prod me!

And we've had... nasty things you can only see out of the corner of your eye; creepy phone calls; a creepy space-suit (seriously, I was waiting for "Are you my Mummy? - Who turned out the lights?" and a really dodgy bit of CGI in which the TARDIS catches River before she plummets to her death.

The ending. Is the girl meant to be one of Ten's by-blows or something?! He got stuck in 1969, so perhaps that was one of the ways he found to pass the time!

I dunno - I remember when I first saw the trailer for The Doctor's Daughter that I had a smiliar reaction - DNW!

I have no idea why that is.

I wish Moffat would just STOP with the -Let's make it look like Amy's in love with the Doctor and Rory thinks he's second best- thing.

(I thought the bit after Amy's disappeared when Rory is saying that she knows he'll always come for her was really sweet... until Moffat ruined it by having her calling out for the Doctor and not even mentioning her husband's name.)

Something like that might work on Torchwood, but DW isn't really the place for it, IMO. Amy and Rory are married, and I don't think a show aimed at a family audience should be trying to make us wonder if a major character could be thinking about cheating on her husband. (Or if she has already!)

Reading that back, I realise it sounds a bit harsh, but I can't think of another way to put it right now. I'm not a prude and I'm not averse to seeing those sorts of dilemmas on TV - I just don't think this is the right place for it.

Also - it's confusing my kids who, at those points, have no idea what anyone is talking about!

Things I liked:

The "three months later" opening and reveal were well done
The Eleven/River flirting was fun and sweet; and yay! for teh snogtiemz, but... oh, so sad when River realises that's the last time. Another first and last for them both at the same time :(
Badass River in the shoot-out.
That whole section in the children's home was really creepy

You know, the episode finished almost an hour ago now, and I'm having trouble remembering much else about it. Does that mean the Silence^* are eating my brain?

* Assuming it's Silence rather than Silents

So to sum up... I sort of liked it, but the suspense is going to kill me.

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The ending. Is the girl meant to be one of Ten's by-blows or something?! He got stuck in 1969, so perhaps that was one of the ways he found to pass the time!

Well that never even occurred to me! Although I think it would have killed poor Martha... I went with Amy's child, but then that would assume she had one... and how did it end up in 1969... and would mean she shot her own child which, dark!

Seemed to me to be a whole bunch of questions in that ep and not a whole lot else. Which is not necessarily (oh how I hate trying to spell that word) a bad thing... but I'm not going to be in the country for the second half of the season and given that running water and electricity are not going to be a major feature I think the suspense might kill me!

There were good moments but I don't care for the way it cheapened the Doctor's character. I'm more interested in a Doctor that would tear the world apart to help one scared, lost little girl than one that casually forgets her and goes adventuring to suit the plot.

I'm bored with Moff's mindfucks. Too many questions, not enough solid characterisation.

LOL at the Nixon tapes though!

I know exactly what you mean. I'm just not used to watching Doctor Who as this sort of on going questions type drama.

Also yeah, have to agree with you about the Amy/Rory/Doctor stuff. It just felt very artificial. But then it did kind of wrap up well at the end. I just hope that this isn't a running theme. Cause ugh.

I'm just not used to watching Doctor Who as this sort of on going questions type drama.

Neither am I - and to be fair, it wasn't really conceived as one when RTD brought it back. Sure, he had his recurring themes, but they weren't quite so complicated.

Also, I've watched other "continuing" dramas, although I suppose none of them were constructed quite like DW is these days. I was a massive fan of Babylon 5 which had some fantastically conceived plot arcs, but I don't remember finding them as frustrating as this!

Yes,I'm with you on all of this; and I'm glad you posted it because I was wondering if I was just being grumpy!

Good moment, yes. It does seem to be a disease of this show that the second half of two-parters are never as good as the first, doesn't it? Maybe that's inherent in the form - the first part is all build up and anticipation which the second can never live up to.

I might edit the post or write another one, but something which is worrying me (as I think it did last series) is the fact that audiences are going to start switching off in droves if things don't start to make sense soon. I read one article last week (in the Grauniad or Telegraph I think) which said that the show risks losing (or possibly even alienating) the casual viewer. I reckon it's at even greater risk after this episode, which didn't really answer amy of the questions set up last week.
I haven't had a chance to rewatch it yet, but my usual form of Moffat-itis is setting in and I feel more and more unsatisfied the more I think about it.

Also, I've seen a fair few comments/posts so far about the "ethics" of the Doctor in basically turning the human race into murderers. I need to rewatch to get it straight in my head about that.

Edited 2011-04-30 21:28 (UTC)

*phew*!

I often wonder the same!

I do try to be open minded about this - I had problems with some of the things in S5 and am always extremely wary of coming across as a DT fangirl who can't let go (and while I am a DT fangirl, I've been watching DW since I was a kid and I know how it works) - but while I do enjoy the show, I can't just gloss over some of this stuff, you know?
I have a great admiration for SM and I think he's a terrific writer; he's witty and a bit naughty and writes great dialogue, but that can't hide the fact that some of this stuff just doesn't make sense. I don't just mean in the context of two episodes, because I'm including S5 and the Xmas special in that as well.

It's all personal opinion - I know there are plenty of people out there who will disagree with me, but I am worried, as I just said upthread, about audience figures. I think they'll be okay for this episode, but I've already heard from friends and family who are less fannish about the show than I am who have had enough of the twists and turns and probably won't bother watching next week.

I admit to being a bit facetious with that one :-)

Too many questions and no real answers this week, I think. Again, with the two-part-itis where the first part is great and the second is a let down :(

We're left with even more questions than we were left with last week

I did enjoy the episode, but this season long puzzle is the sort of thing that committed fans adore but casual viewers and young children might not be quite so keen on. It also makes standalone episodes seem a bit forced if they don't connect to the seasonal arc.

But in the "old days", the stories were 4 or 6 parters and shorter eps. They were written that way, rather than as a season of single stories with an arc. There was continuity, but not arcs as such.

I'm beginning to think the old way was better. Not that I've watched this week's yet, and all the reaction to it is putting me off. Whereas I used to be a fan, I've dropped down the list to below "casual viewer" to "really couldn't care less if it's going to be this much of a hassle".

I've been watching some old (Troughton & Pertwee) DW lately and while they ended on a cliffhanger each week (many of which turned into total fake-outs!) the stories mostly progressed linearly and what you learned one week was relevant the next and so on.

Things are certainly different now, and I don't object to the format of "let's do this and then leave it to stew for a few weeks before we pick it up again" - Fringe is doing that brilliantly as have other shows. Fringe is also quite complex in its overall storyling and has been developing its own mythology for the last three seasons, and that hasn't put me off.
So I can't work out what it is about DW as it is now that means that it's harder for me to swallow.
Unless its that Fringe manages to make sense (within its own premise) and doesn't dick around with the viewers to quite the same extent.

I enjoyed it - but I've discovered that I pretty much always have that reaction to a Moffat episode and then half an hour later, I'm thinking "what?!" and realising that it just doesn't hang together. Moffat is like the Silence - when we're watching the episode it's all fine, but when we turn away, it doesn't make sense!

As I've said upthread, I really do have concerns that the casual viewers who make up the bulk of the audience will be switched off by the lack of any real conclusions in this episode. I'm not saying that Moffat's ambitions aren't to be lauded... just that perhaps the general viewing public isn't ready for them.

I haven't really had a chance to chat to the kids yet about what they thought, There was enough in it to keep them entertained - but I think that while most of the complexities passed Abigail by, Elinor is now old enough to be getting confused by them.

Edited 2011-04-30 22:46 (UTC)

Unless its that Fringe manages to make sense (within its own premise) and doesn't dick around with the viewers to quite the same extent.

This!

Once we'd found out about Peter, the storyline isn't actually all that difficult. It's complex, but explained and as logical as it can be, given it defies logic. And I *care* about the characters and what happens to all of them, which I no longer do with DW.

What bugs me with DW now is that it's neither complex nor explained. It's complicated and leaves us hanging until some final unforeseen twist that explains everything that happened. Very much along the lines of "with a single bound he was free" without any proper framework for it to happen. Yes, Rusty did it a bit, but not as much as this. It's getting tedious, which is enough to make me not bothered.

Both Ugly Betty and Glee were like that for me. After starting well, they didn't continue to bring enough of what I liked to keep me interested. Same with Flashforward - after the mid season break, I just lost interest.

You know, fine with the River/Eleven romance/whatever. But could SM please stop throwing he flirty anvils at me? Christ on crutches, I think I got whiplash dodging them all.

Are we to assume that since this was River's last kiss with the Doctor, the next time she sees him will be in The Library?

I agree with the sentiment that SM is going to lose viewers if he keeps teasing without giving any real answers soon. It's just not fair to the viewer, who in good faith is willing to play along for awhile. But if he abuses their trust too many times, I wouldn't blame the fans for checking out and watching something else.

TBH I think anything goes!

I was a massive fan of Babylon 5 which had some fantastically conceived plot arcs, but I don't remember finding them as frustrating as this!

Same here. I also thought about the comparison to B5 yesterday (especially with the Doctor/River first kiss and the mysterious person in a spacesuit thing), and while my memories of actually watching the show on TV rather than on DVD are a bit fuzzy except for the Z'ha'dum cliffhanger ending, I agree that the balance between the overreaching arcs and the pay off of the episodes themselves was much better there.

Strangely, when I was thinking about cliffhangers, the Z'ha'dum was at the forefront of my mind. Classic Who ones had to be weekly, because of the show's format, and often tended to be complete-fake outs the next week, because of course, in the days before videos and lots of repeats, one didn't always remember the previous week's climax exactly and they could get away with it!

But with B5 things seemed less contrived. Okay, so I know that whole bit with Sheridan after he's fallen into the pit was a bit daft, but it did make sense in the context of the show, and there was a price to be paid. Moffat has said that DW is going darker this series - which I hope means we'll get to see consequences and get explanations for things that actually makes sense!

Are we to assume that since this was River's last kiss with the Doctor, the next time she sees him will be in The Library?

While I was under the impression that's what Moffat wants us to think, if it is, he's contradicted himself. In her death scene in Forest of the Dead, River talks about how the last time she'd seen him (before she went to the Library), he'd turned up on her doorstep in a new suit, with a new haircut and they'd gone to the singing towers of wherever and he'd cried... (because he knew what was coming). Maybe we're supposed to believe they didn't snog on that occasion.

I dunno. This whole, "meeting in reverse order" seems too contrived and neat to be coincidence. It would also mean that Moffat has forgotten his own continuity and he doesn't strike me as the type to do that.

Spoilers and speculation abound, as they did last series... but I'm not sure I can be bovvered this time around :(

Spoilers and speculation abound, as they did last series... but I'm not sure I can be bovvered this time around :(

No kidding. Too much effort with a pittance of a payoff.

It's a kids' show, FFS! What's the reasoning behind making it darker? I don't think Cazlet Minor will be over the moon about the darkness of it all. She wants to see things she's going to understand, or else she's going to do something else instead. Unless it makes sense to kids, it's a complete waste of time.

My favorite Who episodes are the creepy ones. This is well-known. So I loved the marks on the companions as they were each hunted and shot down. I adored the creepy orphanage and the writing on the walls. I'm intrigued by the little girl.

And now I'm thinking about them, none of it makes sense. At least, not yet. I'm willing to believe Moffat will explain it all in due time.

Why were the companions being hunted and "killed?"

Who wrote all the graffiti in the orphanage? Couldn't have been the caretaker. He wouldn't have remembered long enough to write it all.

The little girl? My guess is she's a regenerated Jenny.

I really don't want a Doctor/Amy baby. I can accept, but would prefer not to have a Doctor/Anybody romance. I kind of want Moffat to leave the sexy shenanigans in fanfic. Where it belongs.

Came by to say something as well, although I believe we're on the same page for most of it. However this caught my attention:

The ending. Is the girl meant to be one of Ten's by-blows or something?! He got stuck in 1969, so perhaps that was one of the ways he found to pass the time!

Interesting, very interesting idea, although considering Martha was with him at the time, and how love-torn she was with Ten, I'd feel so horrible if Moffat decided to play around with Martha even more than Davies did. I'm not her biggest fan (although I'm starting to appreciate her), I still think it would be too much, especially considering the whole HN/FoB problem.

And also this:

(I thought the bit after Amy's disappeared when Rory is saying that she knows he'll always come for her was really sweet... until Moffat ruined it by having her calling out for the Doctor and not even mentioning her husband's name.)

Totally forgot about that until now and how terrible I felt afterwards. I understand there's drama of all types, even the ones that make your heart bleed out of your chest, but this was a claw into my chest and ripped it out painfully. I understand a companion's devotion/faith in the Doctor but when Rory thought it was him, the boy who waited and suffered through 2,000 years for his wife thought he'd be her hero, only to have the rug thrown out from underneath him.... Sorry, I think I'm going to go cry now. I'll be over there, with my box of tissues.

I think I'm still reeling from this one to be honest.

I just can;t get my head around a Doctor who first not only condones, but encourages mankind to kill an entire race on sight, but then totally dismisses the child who was such a vital part of the story, and a massive puzzle, and just walks away.

Since when did he EVER walk away from a puzzle like that?

I admit to facetiousness re. the Ten in 1969 comment as well as the Susan one ;-) I can't help myself sometimes... I don't think Moffat would go there in a million years, even though Blink was one of his. He seems keen to distance himself as much as possible from what went before (despite what he says in interviews - I need to see that in the show rather than just listen to him tell me.)

I understand there's drama of all types

Yes - that's exactly what I was trying to say. I didn't want to come across as naive when it comes to these things because this whole "luurve triangle" thing is par for the course in some programmes - just to say that I don't think DW is the place for it. Massive kudos to Arthur Darvill there, though - he was utterly brilliant in that scene, even though it was devastating.

And then later, Moffat tried to pull it back with "it was just a figure of speech". Since when has "you fell out of the sky" been a commonplace expression? And even if it were, how on earth could it possibly apply to Rory?

*grrrrrrr*

Since when did he EVER walk away from a puzzle like that?

Maybe since he worked out that he's got eleven more episodes to go spread over six months...

I have another reaction post brewing...

I don't want a Doctor/Amy anything!! I was hoping that maybe I would be able to warm to her a bit more this series, now she's got her family back and is hopefully more well adjusted - and off the back of the first episode, I thought that might happen. But after this week, and the way she's still treating the man she chose to marry like a piece of shit, I don't think the warming is gonna happen any time soon.

There are so many unanswered questions. Like I've said here and elsewhere, I can live with unanswered questions (for a while) and I didn't expect we'd get any answers to the Big Questions - but I don't think we got ANY answers AT ALL. I don't even regard the question of the Silence as being answered, because we still don't know how/why they blew up the TARDIS in S5, and I'm damn sure that they haven't all just slunk off home after the Doctor's other shenanigans.

I have another reaction/unanswered question post brewing...

good point, lol.

I don't mind story arcs, in fact I quite like them, but so far all I've seen is arc and no story

I can't help myself sometimes...

Some things are best left as they are. :D

As a whole, I've decided to stay away from whatever Moffat says and just watch the episodes as he either comes across as sexist, condescending, or just plain annoying. Why I follow him on Twitter is beyond my comprehension.

Massive kudos to Arthur Darvill there, though - he was utterly brilliant in that scene, even though it was devastating.

THIS. And never, ever have I heard "fell out of the sky" used that way. And, really, if someone said that to me, I'd give them a quizzical look and say, "what in the world are you talking about?" Or ask them if they are a Doctor Who fan. lol

*grrrrrrr* Indeed.

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DW 6x02 - Day of the Moon

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